NBC’s decision to carry the Giants-Cowboys football game rather than Democratic National Convention coverage Wednesday night paid dividends in terms of ratings — if not in terms of civic responsibility. (KUSA-Channel 9 tried unsuccessfully to get a feed of the DNC coverage to put on KTVD but couldn’t get the rights. That would have been a perfect use of its sister station, but MSNBC has exclusive cable/satellite rights to the convention and NBC didn’t join the pool due to its NFL football.)

For the 8-9:30 p.m. block, which coincided with the night’s climactic speech by former President Bill Clinton in Charlotte, NBC’s football telecast on KUSA scored an 11.6 rating, 26.9 share among voting age viewers (18+). That translates to some 339,000 people in this market watching the game on Channel 9, a ratings victory.

Overall, however, 2,000 more voting age viewers in this market tuned in the political convention than the football game. The competition showing DNC coverage –locally KRMA, KCNC, KMGH, MSNBC, Fox News and CNN — scored 341,000 people combined.

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.